                     "The Return of the King" v1
                         By Favoured Flight

(NB: For easier viewing, please select <Edit> , <Wordwrap>)

**** THE SCENARIO ****

The the Return of the King you play the part of the Fellowship in the journey to destroy the One Ring of power. On route the party will likely split and you will then control the individual party members.
At the same time you will need to command the forces of the mortal Free Peoples, defending their lands (namely, Gondor and Rohan). Pivotal in this regard is the defence of Minas Tirith.
The game begins where the Moria scenario left off. They have just exited the mines and stand at the edge of Dimrill Dale, east of the Misty Mountains. In the far south the forces of Mordor have begun their assault on Gondor. So, strong are their numbers that they cannot be resisted indefinately. Meanwhile, to the west, Isengard, under the command of the treachorous wizard Saruman, has launched an army of it's own at Rohan.
If freedom and the world of man is to be saved the Ring must be taken to the place of it's creation, Mount Doom. No time can be spared. Stray but a little and the quest will fail, to the doom of all!


**** INSTALLATION ****

I constructed this scenario using "Fantastic Worlds" (FW). It should work with 
standard Civ2 and FW. I've no idea if it works with anything else (sorry!).

Assuming you have installed FW, follow this simple procedure:
Make a new folder in the "scenario" folder (which is inside your "civ2" folder). 
Name the folder "RotK". Put all the non-.wav files you downloaded into this 
folder. Create a subfolder within "RotK" and call it "Sound". Now, place all 
the .wav files in this folder.


**** THE PLAYERS ****

There is only one protagonist open for play. All the others are completely 
unplayable; don't waste your time trying. You'll just end up confused and bored. 
This scenario was constructed solely for The Free Peoples player.


**** GAME PLAY ****

The game is a mix of adventure and wargame. Some of the time you'll be defending cities with your armed forces and the next minute you'll be guiding the Fellowship heroes through forests and mountains.
Simply put: Defend Minas Tirith; push the One Ring (carried by Frodo) relentlessly toward Mount Doom; use your heroes to martial the forces of freedom and discover other heroes.


**** INNOVATIONS ****

The most obvious will be the BIG mountains. There's no real secret to these. They're simply units graphics strung togethre in interesting and varied patterns. I think they work really well and give a majestic sweep to the look of Middle-earth.

I was able to create Minas Tirith's graphic surrounding Rammas Echor through manipulation of the standard terrain mountain graphics. Take a look at Terrain2.gif to see how it was done.

The innovation I'm most proud of though is 'relative timers'. This has allowed me to have the player trigger an event at any point int the game, which then sets a timer in motion. When the timer has reached it's end, a resultant event is triggered. It's too complicated to go into in this document, I'll probably put a design tips section at my website and explain it there.

Not really sure if this is a first but, you may notice that the many rivers on the map are uncrossable except at designated fords. This gives great strategic importance to certain cities and crossing points. All the mountain ranges are unpassable making them true obstacles, forcing the player to march around them or discover passes to cross them. This sectioning of the map has allowed me to set up event triggers that can't be stumbled over by wandering monsters and armies. 


**** WONDERS, IMPROVEMENTS, & TECH TREE ****

There have been some changes to the tech tree, but as the game takes place over a small period of time these aren't very important. You shouldn't be doing a great deal of inventing, etc. There are no engineer units so no new cities can be founded either.


**** TERRAIN, UNITS AND SOUNDS ****

The Graphics have been completely overhauled. As you'll see, most of the terrain has 
been altered. I've taken existing graphics, like the wood and overhauled them. 
he vast majority of units have been redrawn. Many of them have never been used or seen prior to this scenario.
I've also recorded many new sounds (well worth the extra time in downloading!).

You're more than welcome to use any of the graphics and sounds I've created so long 
as you credit me and this scenario in your files somewhere. If you take the samples I've used of other people's work, please remember to credit them too. Thanks!


**** CHALLENGES ****

Finish the game and...
1. Don't lose Pelargir.
2. Recapture the crossings at Osgiliath (the fort between Minas Tirith and Minas Morgul).
3. Recapture Minas Morgul! (Only for dedicated Istari!)


**** HINTS ****

1. There are several powerful allies hidden on the map. Try to find them and bring them into the game on the side of the Free Peoples. This is really a job for your hero units who can move faster than standard army units.
2. Only Aragorn can take the Paths of the Dead.
3. Only a Frodo unit can cross into Mordor via Cirth Ungol (near Minas Morgul).
4. You may find it necessary to rest the Fellowship/ hero units now and again. This will give back much needed hit points. But beware, time is short. Every turn is precious-ssss!
5. Take notes. Clues tend not to be repeated!
6. Most importantly, SAVE! OFTEN!  
7. Some of your cities are never besieged. Try moving troops from them into cities that are under attack.
8. If you really are stuck then load the cheat.html file into your browser.


**** NOTES ****

You may be wondering why the Free Peoples have a white banner/ flag. How come it's not a white tree on a black field? Or seven stars arrayed about a white tree? Or Just seven stars on a black field? Well, at the time of the ruling Stewards obviously the banner of the Stewards was was in use. That banner was an unblazoned white field. The tree and stars were symbols reserved for the line of Kings. For anyone who would prefer to use the the Kings flag, I have put one on the cities.gif. It is the seventh one in from the left, in the line of flags at the base of the screen. Just swap it for the white flag, which is second in line.
You may be wondering why Rohirrim cities are flying the flag of the Stewards when their own troops are in residence. This is simply due to the mechanics of Civ2 and my combining of Gondor and Rohan as one realm. There's nothing I can do about it I'm afraid.
Also, in order to achieve the right look for the Rohirrim cities I've had to dispence with their city walls. I think this can be justified both graphically and (fantasy) historically. The Rohirrim tended to defend there kingdom at times of war by abandoning their cities and heading for the better defences of places like Helm's deep. So too in this game.
One more thing: You may come across an invisible troop which belongs to you called "No go". Don't take any interest in them. They are just part of the mechanics to get the game working. 


**** CONTACT INFORMATION ****

If you'd like to contact me then please use the following email address: David@favfly.fsworld.co.uk
Or, you might like to visit my website dedicted to scenarios I've made. Use this link:
http://www.favfly.fsworld.co.uk/index.html

If you haven't yet played the scenario to which this is the sequel, please look for it at the above website. It's called, "Moria: A Journey in the Dark". It is an adventure scenario taking place soley in the mines of Moria.
As to whether there will be a sequel to this...? Hmmm... maybe. I already have plans underway. Pay a visit to the above mentioned website for any news.

**** THANKS ****

Biggest thanks obviously goes to J.R.R.Tolkien for creating Middle-earth and it's legends. 
Thanks also to "Civilization Fanatics' Center" for their online tips on scenario 
building (and the amazing response from everyone on their Civ2 forum! I doubt I would have contemplated doing a sequel without their encouragement); Harlan Thompson, Leon Marrick for their enormous research put into their "Advanced Scenario Design" document, which I cribbed from; also, everyone who has ever gone to the lengths of creating a scenario and uploaded it. I studied scenario after scenario looking for new ways and great ways to do 
things. I would never have been able to start this project (let alone finish it) 
without all those games to educate and inspire me; thanks also to the BBC for creating their Lord of the Rings radio-play, from which I've taken samples (I recommend it fully and have listened to it time and time again. If you don't have it yet, go and buy it!); also, thanks to those people whose samples I have lifted from their scenarios; thanks to the Ian Howe whose art work I've used as the title-screen for the scenario; A special thanks goes to my two nephews Liam and Danny for providing the cries of "The Shire!" for the hobbits; Lastly, thanks to Microprose for creating Civ2 and putting an editor out with it (even though it doesn't quite work as well as it should have).
